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| Mike Henry |
My
friend and respected consultant Mike Henry opines in his most recent blog
commentary [link] that “…the growth of Low Power FM (LPFM)
stations…should serve as yet another wake-up call for local NPR News radio
stations.”
Henry cites a New
York Times article from last Friday (10/14) that spotlighted the
growth of Low Power FM (LPFM) stations [link]. Henry’s conclusion is:
The Times’
hypothesis is that, along with being the sole outlet for ethnic and
community groups, LPFM stations are quickly finding ground and a path as a true
hyper-local news outlet in the vacuum being created by NPR
News stations that do not cover the local ground.
While there is
merit in Henry’s op-ed, he is missing the big picture. LPFM stations and NPR News stations exist in
two different worlds.
ARE NPR NEWS STATIONS IGNORING LOCAL NEWS?
Henry focuses on a
quote by Michael Lasar, co-founder of Radio
Survivor [link] from the NYT article:
“There’s still a need for
local news and information, which many public radio stations have abandoned,”
he said. “There’s a lot of stations that just go on automatic pilot and play
NPR and satellite downloads. That’s Low Power FM’s ace in the hole.”
Lasar is smart
fellow who literally wrote the book about the history of Pacifica Radio but his
work primarily covers NFCB-ish community radio, not NPR News Stations. I
believe that Lasar and Henry’s notion that, as a group, NPR News stations are
simply repeaters of nationally syndicated NPR content that have abandoned local
news, is not true.
Yes, there are NPR
News stations that do little more than repeat network programming but there are
lots of stations that are doing much, much more. In fact, increased local and
regional content by NPR News stations is one of public radio’s brightest new
developments: Consider:
• Station-based
talk and interview programs are increasing in number and quality. We’ve reported
about On Second Thought, at WRAS,
Atlanta [link]; Boston Public Radio
at WGBH [link]; Essential Pittsburgh
at WESA [link]; and Where We Live at
Connecticut Public Radio [link]. These programs typically out-perform NPR News
magazines and are sources of considerable pledging and underwriting revenue.
• CPB-sponsored Regional
Journalism Centers (RJC) are creating new regional and local content. We have
previously reported on RJCs such as the Fronteras
Desk (based at KJZZ, Phoenix) covering border issues from San Antonio to
San Diego [link]; the Texas Station
Collaborative based at KERA and KUT [link]; and the New England News Collaborative based at WNPR [link].
• Many NPR News
stations cover hyper-local news on their websites, via social media and
podcasts.
• NPR ONE allows listeners
to build there own menu of news whenever, wherever they chose including plenty of local news.
Mike Henry ends his
op-ed with this thought:
“If LPFM stations can now eat
your lunch, then your lunch deserves to be eaten. I relish the opportunity to
help any broadcaster, mighty NPR News stations or nimble LPFM stations, serve
their local audiences the way they deserve.”
Holy hyperbole Mike!
Yes, there are some
LPFM stations doing a terrific job covering local communities and interest
groups, but they aren’t the norm. The average NPR has an annual budget of
around $2.5 million and I have seldom seen a LPFM station with an annual budget
of more than $50,000. NPR News stations
and LPFM stations operate of two very different levels.
NONCOM PRODUCERS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE
PODCAST METRICS
Podtrac [link] just
released their September list of the top ten podcasts, ranked by the number of
estimated Unique Monthly Audience. Seven of the ten are sponsored by
noncommercial or nonprofit orgranizations. http://analytics.podtrac.com/
American Public
Media is new on the top ten, likely powered by podcasts from Marketplace. This
American Life had the biggest month-to-month decline perhaps because Serial is out of season. Below is our
custom chart comparing Podtrac data from August and September.
Lasar is a professor at UC Santa Cruz. I'm not surprised he thinks NPR stations have "abandoned" local news for just airing satellite programming. Look at the hot mess that is KUSP! And KAZU, while a good station, did not (AFAIK) have a strong reputation for local programming.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Lasar's on crack. Stations, and markets, like that are the minority. Most of the time there are one or more three key factors that are going to make it very, very hard for an LPFM to "eat NPR's lunch". Co-exist, perhaps, but not eat the lunch:
1. The local NPR outlet will do a good job serving their local community with local news and content.
2. The population density is too low for an LPFM to effectively serve the area, so no matter how good the programming is...they won't get enough audience to generate the necessary revenue to support it.
3. If the market is small enough but there's just enough population density to make an LPFM theoretically viable? There's probably a small AM or FM commercial station filling that niche by being highly active in the local community.
That last one's important. Many in the industry, myself included, often bemoan how "big corporate radio" has ruined radio...but there are quite a lot of small town broadcast operators out there who love their towns and hustle to prove it. And it's surprising how many are still on small Class C (1kW) AM stations or Class A (6kW) FM stations and are making a decent living off it.